1. Gazans 'wasting away' as mass starvation spreads, humanitarian groups warn 

BBC 

"More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation in Gaza and pressing for governments to take action. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam are among the signatories of a joint statement that says their colleagues and the people they serve are "wasting away".'

As one of the signatories on the statement highlighting the desperate situation related to food and aid in Gaza, CMEP announced our engagement in this press release here.

2. Macron announces that France will recognize Palestinian statehood

Le Monde

"French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday, July 24, that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. "The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.″"

3. Pope appeals for end to Gaza ‘barbarity’ 

Vatican News

"Pope Leo XIV has expressed his “deep sorrow” over the recent Israeli attack on the Catholic parish in Gaza, and called for “an immediate halt to the barbarity” in the Strip. After the Holy Family church was struck on Thursday morning, three of the approximately 600 Gazans sheltering there were killed, and several others, including the parish priest Fr Gabriel Romanelli, were injured. Speaking on Sunday after reciting the Angelus prayer at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope named the three victims – Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, and Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud – and said he was “close” to them and their families.”

4. Press Conference on the Patriarchs’ Visit to Gaza 

Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

"The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem held a joint press conference, highlighting the historic pastoral visit of His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, The Patriarch of Jerusalem. Together, they carried a message of consolation and hope to a grieving people, and a cry of conscience to a silent world."

5. Western diplomatic chiefs, EU Commissioner Lahbib condemn Israel’s treatment of Gaza civilians

Politico

"The foreign ministers of 28 nations and the EU’s humanitarian aid commissioner condemned Israel on Monday for what they termed “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children.” The ministers from 20 EU member countries, their counterparts from the U.K., Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Hadja Lahbib said in a joint statement that it is “horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while … seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”"

CMEP Updates

6. Palestinians are starving or being killed by Israeli troops while seeking aid almost daily. How did we get here? 

CNN

"Twenty-one months into Israel’s war in Gaza, the enclave is gripped by escalating scenes of death and hunger, with some killed while trying to reach aid, others dying of starvation and growing condemnation of Israel’s conduct even among many of its closest allies. Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from man-made “mass starvation” due to the aid blockade on the enclave, the chief of the World Health Organization warned reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. “Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Food distribution sites have become places of violence.”"

7. Knesset votes 71-13 for non-binding motion calling to annex West Bank

The Times of Israel

"The Knesset approved a non-binding motion in favor of annexing the West Bank on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture that united the otherwise fractious right-wing governing coalition. The resolution, which passed 71-13, declared that the West Bank is “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people” and that “Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel.”"

8. Evacuations begin in Syria’s Sweida as days of deadly clashes ease 

AP News

"Syria's government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the southern city of Sweida, where deadly fighting between Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters has largely stopped as a ceasefire takes told. Last week’s clashes killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria’s fragile postwar transition. They also led to sectarian attacks against the Druze religious minority, followed by revenge attacks against the Sunni Muslim Bedouins. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said 128,571 people were displaced."

9. Europeans to test Iran's appetite for nuclear compromise as sanctions loom 

Reuters

"France, Britain and Germany will hold face-to-face talks with Iran on Friday for the first time since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June, aiming to gauge Tehran's appetite for a compromise to avert sanctions, diplomats say. The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 deal - from which the U.S. withdrew in 2018 - that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme."

10. WHO operations compromised following attacks on warehouse and facility sheltering staff and families in Deir al Balah, Gaza

World Health Organization

"WHO condemns in the strongest terms the attacks on a building housing WHO staff in Deir al Balah in Gaza, the mistreatment of those sheltering there, and the destruction of its main warehouse. Following intensified hostilities in Deir al Balah after the latest evacuation order issued by Israeli military, the WHO staff residence was attacked three times today. Staff and their families, including children, were exposed to grave danger and traumatized after airstrikes caused a fire and significant damage."

11. 'You're Losing Me': As the Evangelical Backlash Against Israel Grows Inside MAGA, Trump Officials Threaten Reprisals

Haaretz

"A recent wave of violence against Palestinian Christians in Gaza and the West Bank is deepening divisions within President Donald Trump's political base over U.S. support for Israel, as frustration grows among evangelical leaders and other religious conservatives."